Sunni Hadith Verses Shia Hadith

In the name of Allah most gracious most merciful,Assalaamu alaykum wa rahmatuallahi wa barakatahu,

Sunni hadith versus Shia hadith.----------------------------------

One of the major differences between Shia and Sunni is in their definition of Sunnah and Hadith. There is a vital difference in the nature ofacceptable Sunnah for both groups.

The Sunnis accept all the ahadith said to be genuine and reported by any of the Prophet’s companions.Quran confirms the righteousness of companions ofprophet muhammad peace be upon him.The hadith were written at the time of prophet and continued to be written in later times as well.Sunnis havedeveloped a specific method of ‘criticism’ to authenticate the Hadith, which merged soon after the death of the Prophet.

49:13 O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female and made you into nations and tribes that ye may know each other (not thatye may despise each other). Verily the most honored of you in the sight of Allah is (he who is) the most righteous of you. And Allah has fullknowledge and is well acquainted (with all things).

The science of collecting, analysing, compiling, grading and reporting of hadiths became a special field of studies after the period ofcompanions (radiallahu `anhum). The leading reports are from Al-Bukhari, Muslim, At-Tirmidhi, An-Nasai, Ibn Majah, and Abu Dawoodwhich are known as the six most authentic books (As-Sihaahus-Sittah). The validity of a hadith depends solely on its agreement with theQur'an and the grading of a hadith depends on the reliability of the chain of narrators who reported it. In order to do this, the reporterstudied the characters and the life of every single person who were mentioned in the chain of narrators. We notice that utmost care wasexercised not only in reporting the exact words, but also sifting through the characters of persons who reported them. If a singleperson in the chain of narrators is reported to be of doubtful character or unreliable, then the entire hadith is either rejected orthis fact is noted down and specifically mentioned.

The Imams who undertook this enormous task of compiling and reporting the hadiths exercised great care in their lifetime effort, becausethese studies laid the foundation for the guidelines in understanding and practicing Islam in the life of every Muslim.

There are two kinds of Hadith compilations: musannaf and musnad. In musannafcollections, hadiths are recorded under various headings dealing withjuridical subjects. The most famous musannaf collections are:

1. Sahih Al-Bukhari (d. AH 256/870 CE)

2. Sahih Muslim (d. AH 261/874 CE)

3. Sunan An-Nasa’i (d. AH 303/916 CE)

4. Sunan Abi Dawud (d. AH 275/889 CE)

5. Sunan At-Tirmidhi (d. AH 279/892 CE)

6. Sunan Ibn Majah (d. AH 273/886 CE)

In musnad collections, hadiths are arranged alphabetically under the names of the Companions on whose authority these hadiths were reported. An exampleof this kind is Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal (d. AH 241/855 CE).

"The Prophet is closer to the believers than their own selves.." 33:6

so everything thing prophet said we believe.

Quran confirms the righteousness of companions of prophet.-------------------------------------------------------------------9:100 The vanguard (of Islam) the first of those who forsook (their homes) and of those who gave them aid and (also) those who follow them in (all)good deeds well pleased is Allah with them as are they with him: for them hath He prepared gardens under which rivers flow to dwell therein for ever:that is the supreme felicity.

Ayesha[r.a] gave many hadith and umm salamah.33:34 And recite what is rehearsed to you in your homes of the Signs of Allah and His wisdom: for Allah understands the finest mysteries and iswell-acquainted (with them).

For Ansars [ helpers]4:33 To (benefit) everyone We have appointed sharers and heirs to property left by parents and relatives. To those also to whom your right hand waspledged give their due portion: for truly Allah is Witness to all things.

9:117 Allah turned with favor to the prophet the Muhajirs and the Ansar who followed Him in a time of distress after that the hearts of a part of themhad nearly swerved (from duty); but He turned to them (also): for He is unto them Most Kind Most Merciful.

33:6 The Prophet is closer to the Believers than their own selves and his wives are their mothers. Blood-relations among each other have closerpersonal ties in the Decree of Allah than (the Brotherhood of) Believers and Muhajirs: nevertheless do ye what is just to your closest friends: such isthe writing in the Decree (of Allah).

The charitable companions,24:22 Let not those among you who are endued with grace and amplitude of means resolve by oath against helping their kinsmen those in want and thosewho have left their homes in Allah's cause: let them forgive and overlook: do you not wish that Allah should forgive you? For Allah is Oft-ForgivingMost Merciful.

9:120 It was not fitting for the people of Medina and the bedouin Arabs of the neighborhood to refuse to follow Allah's Apostle nor to prefer their ownlives to his: because nothing could they suffer or do but was reckoned to their credit as a deed of righteousness whether they suffered thirst orfatigue or hunger in the cause of Allah or trod paths to raise the ire of the unbelievers or received any injury whatever from an enemy: for Allahsuffereth not the reward to be lost of those who do good; 121 Nor could they spend anything (for the cause) small or great nor cutacross a valley but the deed is inscribed to their credit; that Allah might requite their deed with the best (possible reward).122 Nor should the believers all go forth together: if a contingent from every expedition remained behind they could devote themselves to studies inreligion and admonish the people when they return to them that thus they (may learn) to guard themselves (against evil).

33:21 Ye have indeed in the Apostle of Allah a beautiful pattern of (conduct) for anyone whose hope is in Allah and the Final Day and who engages much in the praise of Allah.22 When the Believers saw the Confederate forces they said: "This is what Allah and His Apostle had promised us and Allah and his Apostle told us whatwas true." And it only added to their faith and their zeal in obedience.23 Among the Believers are men who have been true to their Covenant with Allah: of them some have completed their vow to (the extreme) and some (still) wait: but they have never changed (their determination) in the least:24 That Allah may reward the men of Truth for their Truth and punish the Hypocrites if that be His Will or turn to them in Mercy: for Allah isOft-Forgiving Most Merciful.

57:10 And what cause have ye why ye should not spend in the cause of Allah? For to Allah belongs the heritage of the heavens and the earth. Not equalamong you are those who spent (freely) and fought before the Victory (with those who did so later). Those are higher in rank than those who spent(freely) and fought afterwards. But to all has Allah promised a goodly (reward) and Allah is well-acquainted with all that ye do.

48:18 Allah's Good Pleasure was on the believers when they swore Fealty to thee under the Tree: He knew what was in their hearts and He sent downtranquillity to them and He rewarded them with a speedy Victory;

Al-Tirmidhi HadithHadith 6093 Narrated byAli ibn AbuTalibAllah's Messenger (peace be upon him) said to him, "You have a resemblance to Jesus whom the Jews hated so much that they slandered his mother and whomthe Christians loved so much that they placed him in a position not rightly his." Ali afterwards said, "Two people will perish on my account, one wholoves me so excessively that he praises me for what I do not possess, and one who hates me so much that he will be impelled by his hatred to slanderme." Ahmad transmitted it.

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The Shias accept only those ahadith that have been reported by or attributed to the Ahl al-Bait or direct descendents of the Prophet,or the supporters ofAli may Allah be pleased with him.Further, Shias include in their Hadith collections not only statements attributed to the Prophet but alsostatements attributed to their Imams, whom they regard as infallible. Unlike the Sunnis, the Shias, therefore place, in effect, the authenticated sayingsof their Imams on par with the sayings of the Prophet and of Allah as contained in the Quran.

If a person has heard something directly from the 12 Imams, and that person is trustworthy for the Shia and his narration is not against Quran, thenthe tradition is authentic for shia's, since they believe in the infallibility of Imams as well as Prophets. The knowledge of Imam has beenderived from the knowledge of their fathers and forefathers up to the Prophet (PBUH&HF).

Infallibility of humans is negated by Quranic verse 35:45 as all commited mistakes/sins.

35: 45 If Allah were to punish men according to what they deserve He would not leave on the back of the (earth) a single living creature: but He givesthem respite for a stated Term: when their Term expires verily Allah has in his sight all His servants.

However, the chain of narrators should be evaluated. If the chain turns out to be broken (i.e., one element in the chain is missing), then thetradition is considered weak in Isnad. Thus all the narrators should be named, and this is the case for the majority of Shi'i collections oftraditions.

Bukhari, in particular, is a Sunni scholar who compiled the ahadith, thus forming what we today know as the Sahih Bukhari. The fact is that Shiasdo not reject Bukhari. There are many ahadith in Sahih Bukhari that have been accepted by Shias, but Shias do not hold that whatever is in SahihBukhari is always true. For that reason, shia's also do not accept everything that is contained in Bihar-ul-Anwar, a book in which Allama Majlisi hascompiled all the ahadith!!

Comprehensive Hadith Collection

The title "The Comprehensine Collection" refers to there hadith books by which the scholar is more or less not so much in need of cheking otherhadith sources. In the Shiite hadith scholarship, this Collection Consists of the following:

Here we have Usool al- Kafi that is a collection narrations and traditions attributed to the Shiite Imams, Ahlul Bayt and the Prophet. Al-Kafi is theMOST reliable Shia Book, as the reliable Shia Scholars said and declared . Its author is Thiqat al-Islam Muhamad Ibn Yaqoob AlKulayni (A VERY reliableShia Scholar, died in 328 H). Some Shi'ites scholars believe usool Al-Kafi was presented to the legendary Imam Qaem who liked it and said: "It sufficesour Shi'ites" (al-Tharee'ah ela Tasaneef al-Shi'a: Agha Buzurg al-Tahraani; vol.17, p.245)

Al-Kafi is a collection of Hadiths attributed to the prophet Muhamad p.b.u.h and The Infallible Imams -according to Shia- and like AhlSunnah, who givemuch importance to their Hadith book (Saheeh AlBukhari), Shia give the same or maybe even more importance to their Book (Al-Kafi) . Unlike AhlSunnah whocall AlBukhari's Book as (Saheeh AlBukhari), Shia do not call Al-Kafi as (Saheeh Al-Kafi), nevertheless, Shia treat Al-Kafi as it is (Saheeh) andtheir most reliable scholars declare it as a (Saheeh) .

Ironically we find Mr. Mulla Baqir Majlisi stating in his commentary on al-Kafi, named Mir'at al-'Uqul, that 9,485 out of the 16,121 narrations inal-Kafi are unreliable! Now here we reach two conclusions, either Imam Qaem made a mistake to authenticate a book, 60% of whose contents would later bediscovered to be unreliable or Mr. Mulla Baqir Majlisi (the most reliable and respected Shia Scholars ever existed) did not know what he was talkingabout.

On the other hand, the collection of Hadiths available with the Shias doesnot appear to have undergone the same sort of rigorous critical examinationas is the case with Sunnis.It should be made clear straightaway that the juristic differences among the Sunni schools of thought are not similar to the differences between Shiasand Sunnis. The differences among the four major Sunni schools of jurisprudence are not in matters of faith (aqidah), and hence do notconstitute a fundamental difference unlike that between Sunnis as a whole and the Shias.